Righteousness Without Love!

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Rom 1:16-25; Lk 11:37-41

Today’s Gospel highlights the danger of righteousness without love.

Is righteousness without love possible? Yes. The Pharisee who invites Jesus to his house proves that one can feel righteous without empathy, concern, or understanding.

There are several problems with the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisee. 

1. In his righteousness, the Pharisee begins to imagine that he is more virtuous than Jesus and starts judging his guest. Though the Pharisee had the good intention of being Jesus’ host, he became the Lord’s judge in his self-righteousness. 

2. One can see the danger of self-righteousness in the Pharisee’s behaviour. The one who invited Jesus thought himself so holy that he even turned the table of communion into a stage to display his pride. As a result, the communion table became his drama stage. 

3. Through the Pharisee’s self-righteous attitude, Jesus demonstrates that mindless piety cannot guarantee virtue. Though the Pharisee was a faithful observer of religious laws, his religiosity could not make him humble. Instead, his heart, filled with pride and judgement, was far away from God.

4. In his teaching, Jesus emphasizes inner purity, which is born of conversion and humility. We make ourselves pure through our selfless love and compassion towards the needy. Only the internal worthiness gives meaning to our external acts of piety. 

Let us pray that we may be healed of our self-righteousness in order that we may grow in our love towards God and others.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar